nitr0: "Teams see our results and are like, 'Oh, these guys are not good,' but we are a solid tier-two team right now"

NRG's captain spoke to HLTV about his team's form and expectations ahead of his 13th Major appearance.

NRG arrive in Austin as one of three North American-majority teams, marking the organization's return to a Major for the first time since its top-five lineup reached the semi-finals of StarLadder Berlin 2019.

That lineup was sold to Evil Geniuses soon after, and NRG didn't field another Counter-Strike lineup until 2023. Iterations of the new team tried and failed to reach the Major, but with former Liquid captain Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella at the helm, the organization has finally made its return.

'Captain America' played at 11 Majors with Liquid — 12 total, one with iBUYPOWER — and made his last appearance in the quarter-finals of the BLAST.tv Paris Major. After taking a step down to the lower echelons of North America, nitr0 has brought a new, young team to the world stage.

Read more

NRG and Fluxo qualify for ESL Pro League

"I've always liked helping people out and trying to teach what I've learned to the younger players in my generation," he tells HLTV on the media day ahead of Stage 1.

"It is definitely a hard feat to accomplish, it just takes a lot of time. Naturally, I mean, I was only winning for like a year and a half of my entire career, and I've been playing for 10 years. It just takes a lot of time to build what you really want and achieve individual goals."

With poor practice in North America and difficult matchups at the team's few big LAN appearances this year, nitr0 has a lot of work ahead of him if NRG hopes to make an impression in Austin. Still, he believes teams are underrating NRG's potential.

"[In Dallas], we played Falcons, we played Aurora, and it was very hard," he says. "I think a lot of teams see our results and are like, 'Oh, these guys are not good.' But in reality, I know for a fact that we are like a solid tier-two team right now. But we struggle against tier-one because we don't have the luxury of practicing them. Next season, we're gonna try to really implement a lot more bootcamps and try to get solid practice."

You can listen to the interview here, or read the transcript in full below.

---

This is your 13th Major, but you haven't been at one since Paris. How does it feel to be back?

It feels really good. When I first joined the team, it was our goal to make a Major, especially for the org, since it's been a while. It's really nice to be here, especially as it's an NA tournament. When they announced the Austin Major, it was like, 'We have to be there.' It feels really good to be here, and also it's not my first time in Austin, so it's kind of local. Overall, just good vibes, and I think we feel fairly confident.

Does it feel different to other Majors, considering it's your home event?

Yes, sort of. I obviously like NA events more, because it's easier to travel and stuff, and the fans and all that, so it is special. A lot of the tournaments I've had in NA have been really cool, especially Columbus, New York, and Chicago. It's really cool to be in my home country. So yeah, we have a lot of hope in this tournament, and we're just gonna try to play as best as we can and make it as far as we can.

Have you set any goals? Is there a certain point you would like to reach?

To be honest, we haven't really discussed our team expectations, like if we expect to go to Stage 2, Stage 3, playoffs. Since we haven't had the best results recently, we're just taking it step by stage, like each stage is its own tournament. So the first tournament is Stage 1, and then once we're done with it, we'll come back and discuss our expectations for Stage 2, because every stage is gonna have harder teams.

If we're planning to make Stage 3, then obviously we have to make it past Stage 1, and that's why we're kind of treating it as a separate tournament. Making at least Stage 3 would be really nice for us, and I think Stage 2 is the minimum.

To ask more about the team in general. You played a couple of LANs this season, but the last one, IEM Dallas, didn't exactly go to plan. How has the season been? Because I know daps mentioned practice in NA is pretty hard, so is that the main reason that's holding you back?

Yeah, I mean we had a week-long bootcamp in Sweden before the last Pro League, and we actually improved a lot overall as a team during that period. And we didn't have the luxury of being able to just play in Europe, because we had qualifiers online and the ECL season the whole time.

So it's kind of a crappy situation for us, because we weren't at the point where we could get invites at all, and a lot of times we had to start from the open qualifier. We actually had pretty good practice this week, because a lot of teams are in Texas or in the States somewhere, so this week has been really productive for us. You could just feel overall that you get punished so much more when you play better teams compared to the ones that are normally playing in NA, they really show you where your problems lie.

And then for Dallas, we didn't have a bootcamp going into it, because of ECL playoffs and all that stuff. We played Falcons, we played Aurora, and it was very hard. I think a lot of teams see our results and are like, 'Oh, these guys are not good.'

But in reality, I know for a fact that we are like a solid tier-two team right now. But we struggle against tier-one because we don't have the luxury of practicing them. Next season, we're gonna try to really implement a lot more bootcamps and try to get solid practice, especially with the new ECL format changes. I think we'll have more time to do what we want. A lot of people are looking at the recent results of Dallas and thinking we suck, but I mean it was a hard matchup for us to be honest.

Talking about this EU-NA divide, you've recently added an EU player. Is that down to you guys trying to move more towards an EU style, or at least have someone in the team who has played these top teams like week in, week out?

The truth is, there are just not many options in NA. A lot of teams have EU imports and players like JT, who's from South Africa. It's just hard to build an all-NA roster compared to how it was back then, especially since COVID hit.

Even Brazilian teams are now moving to Europe to play and compete, which takes away the practice from NA, so it has been a struggle for sure. I think that's naturally why you see more European players playing on NA teams, which is completely normal, completely fine. But you might see more in the future, I'm not sure.

Since you returned to CS, you've been in NA. You've been one of the only members of the old guard trying to pass down the experience. Is that something that you enjoy doing?

It is definitely something I enjoy doing. I've always liked helping people out and trying to teach what I've learned to the younger players in my generation. It is definitely a hard feat to accomplish, it just takes a lot of time. Naturally, I mean, I was only winning for like a year and a half of my entire career, and I've been playing for 10 years. It just takes a lot of time to build what you really want and achieve individual goals.

And as a team, you need to find the right team cohesion and all the factors that you want to win. What we're doing at NRG is on the right path, considering where we started when I joined, it's only been going uphill. We've had some downhill moments, but I think we're on the right path of where we want to be.

Do you feel like this is something NA needs more of, because most ex-players are now streamers, and NRG is one of the rare teams where you and daps brought a lot of experience and tried to bring people up. Do you think that's what the region needs to evolve and, in the end, get better practice?

You see it all the time like traditional sports, where a star player on a team will become a coach over time, and they eventually pass down all the fundamentals that they've learned. Even Phil Jackson, who was obviously a really good basketball player, became the coach of the Lakers, and they won all kinds of rings and championships.

So that's just an example of what I want to do, whether it's me IGLing a team after having success as an NA player, and if it's not gonna be that, then it's gonna be coaching. So I mean, I think it's just the natural food chain and how it eventually happens in most sports.

You mentioned transitioning to coaching. Even though you're probably not ready for that yet, especially given that there's really no IGLs to take your place, do you expect to do that when the time is right?

I think that is the next stage of my career. However, I feel like mechanically I still have a lot of ability and time left. I'm 29, so I still feel pretty young, my teammates also made me feel young. So it is something I'm interested in, but I'm not sure when the time would make sense for me.

It would make me feel special as a person to coach the next IGL in NA, I guess that makes sense. Like it's hard for me to teach a player in a role I haven't necessarily perfected, whereas I can teach a player how to be a better IGL and teach them everything I've learned over the years. And since I'm older now, I'm obviously more mature, so I can instill a lot of those same things in people.